Holocaust Survivors Call On Nigel Farage to Say Sorry Over Alleged Anti-Jewish Remarks.

A collective of Holocaust survivors has called for that Nigel Farage admit the facts and issue an apology for reported antisemitic taunts he is said to have made toward Jewish schoolmates during his school days.

The Reform UK leader has said he never targeted anyone with deliberate cruelty, framing it may have been mere "schoolyard talk".

"As Holocaust survivors, we understand the deadly peril of hateful words – because we have witnessed where such words can lead," stated the survivors in a letter.

"Let us be clear: praising Hitler, jeering at gas chambers, or shouting racist insults is not banter. Not among children. Not under any circumstances."

An Unequivocal Demand

The letter poses blunt questions to the public figure: "Did you say ‘Hitler was right’ and ‘gas them,’ and mimicked gas chambers? Did you subject your peers to anti-Jewish taunts?"

Those Who Signed

The group of 11 survivors features individuals with devastating personal stories from the Nazi genocide.

• Hedi Argent, who lost 27 members of her family.
• Simon Winston, who was imprisoned in a ghetto before fleeing in 1942 and living through the rest of the war in hiding.
• Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she was liberated.

Other signatories include Janine Webber, Edith Jayne, Helen Aronson, Ruth Barnett, John Fieldsend, Susan Pollack, Hanneke Dye and Agnes Kaposi.

Mounting Testimony

This action follows the dismissal of related testimony by more than two dozen or more ex-schoolmates and teachers as "made-up twaddle" by a deputy leader.

Following the publication, more contemporaries have spoken out. Twenty-eight people connected to the school now state they saw bigoted conduct by him.

One prominent account comes from Peter Ettedgui, a Jewish-born Bafta and Emmy-winning director, who recalls that a teenage Farage would come near him and repeat the phrases "Hitler was right" and "send them to the gas chambers", on occasion adding a prolonged hissing sound to simulate the sound of the gas chambers.

Further Allegations

More individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds have also shared experiences with accounts of personal harassment.

• Cyrus Oshidar stated he was branded a "Paki" and has rejected the claim that such actions were not meant to hurt.
• Another individual with Asian roots portrayed him as an "open racist" who would use the phrase "Enoch Powell was correct" as a form of "ethnic harassment".

The Ultimate Question

The missive from survivors asks a concluding dilemma to Farage: "If you deny saying those words, is your position that 20 former classmates and teachers are lying? If the words were spoken, now is the opportunity to take responsibility and make amends."

"People who hope to lead our country should never create division by race or religion. Antisemitic hatred must always be confronted. This moment is about ethical duty. The choice is yours, Mr Farage."